WARSAW, Poland – Poland's foreign minister returned from a trip to Tunisia on Friday with 16 Christian refugees who had found their lives upturned by turmoil in North Africa.
Poland described the move as a gesture of symbolic support for Christian minorities in Africa and as an act of solidarity with Tunisia, which has been overwhelmed by refugees fleeing the violence in neighboring Libya.
Addressing Tunisians a day earlier, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said he was returning to Poland with the refugees "as a symbolic expression of our solidarity with what you are facing."
But it's also a call to the rest of Europe to "take in more refugees and have more open borders" — a policy Warsaw is pushing as it prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1, according to Marcin Zaborowski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
The Foreign Ministry described the six adults and 10 children who landed in Warsaw in the early hours of Friday as political refugees from Eritrea and Nigeria. It said they had found refuge first in Libya and then Tunisia. One of the African women told the TVN24 station that she had spent six years in Libya before being forced to flee the civil war there.
After their arrival in Warsaw, they were immediately taken to a refugee center outside the capital.Ewa Piechota, a spokeswoman for the government Office for Foreigners, said each family was given a furnished room in a freshly renovated building with a free canteen and a kitchen. One of their first questions was whether they could have rice.The group of 16 includes 12 Eritreans — parents with five children under the ages of 10 and a single mother with four children — and four Nigerians, a couple with a small child and a single woman, Piechota told The Associated Press.
TVN24 broadcast images of Foreign Minister Sikorski speaking to the refugees and shaking their hands, apparently before the flight. He bent down and shook the hand of a young boy who addressed him with a "hello" in English.
"Hello — very nice in English," Sikorski told him. "In Polish you say 'czesc.' Czesc — you have to learn it."
Sikorski also told the refugees that he was moved by their plight, recalling how he himself was forced into exile in Britain during a harsh communist-era crackdown in the 1980s.
"I am moved because I myself was once a fugitive," Sikorski told them. "I found a safe haven — and now you will find one."
Poland has been attempting to raise its profile as a major political player, both in Europe and in North Africa.
Sikorski traveled to Benghazi, Libya, several weeks ago to meet with the Libyan rebels. And Polish delegations have made three visits to Tunisia in past months to share the experiences of Poland's own democratic transition with leaders there. One trip was led by legendary Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, who led the struggled that toppled communist rule.
Poland is also a deeply Roman Catholic nation, and Polish leaders have expressed concern in recent months about violence targeting Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
One of the men on the plane said that he knew one thing about Poland — that it was the homeland of the late Pope John Paul II.

We already took in 300 Lybians and we constantly "fish" more and more out of the Mediteranean Sea. All of this is considered a "simbolic" gesture and a message of solidarity with Italy, who is forced to bring into Europe all these... monkeys.

What is this so-called leader going to teach them next? How to wipe their tush, use toilet paper, and wash their hands after going to the bathroom? Is he also going to teach them how to brush their teeth? I am sure he won't be teaching them proper methods of birth control. He would say it against the Catholic religion to use birth control. Today 16. Tomorrow? They will be coming in like hourdes of locusts.

About current polish foreign minister: His wife is Anne Appelbaum of Washington Post. So... It is also very likely, that he is a british agent (he fought in Afghanistan in 80's and he is in very good relations with british establishment etc.). Also there is a possibility, that he is a freemason. We should also remember, that he was one of the first western foreign ministers, who accept independence of Kosovo (which in reality was, is and always will be serbian).

Such a sad new for Poland! In Italy we're fostering Libyans refugees in every region. In my town they're staying in the best hotel and they use to wake up the owner at 1 a.m. to have pasta cooked!
May that man learn a lesson next time he thinks to guest asylum seekers in his property!